The Nation Newspaper

Tag: JAMB

  • JAMB CBT curtails malpractice

    •JAMB official, YABATECH worker trade words

    Some candidates who took the Computer Based Test (CBT) option of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) on Saturday were disappointed that the exam went without hitches.

    Candidates had little room to cut corners during the exam, because each candidate was assigned a computer and on logging in, had to answer questions as randomly provided by the computer.

    While two candidates sitting side by side could have the same subject combination, they would not come in the same order, and the questions would not be the same.

    One candidate, who wrote at the Federal College of Education (Technical) Akoka said that the exam seat was hotter than the hot seat of “Who wants to be a millionaire”, the TV game show hosted by Frank Edohor.

    “There are no life lines, no option for phone a friend or ask the audience,” he said.

    Another candidate who said she came from Badagry the previous day to ensure she made it to the centre on time, added that with this system, JAMB is sure to reduce malpractice.

    “There are a lot of invigilators inside, so you can’t even talk. We were hoping that there would be problems with the CBT, which will compel JAMB to give all of us 250 each as a win-win situation. But this is actually encouraging because you face your work. The malpractice will be reduced. It is better this way. You cannot cheat, you cannot jump from one subject to the other, and there is no expo,” she said.

    Many of the candidates who wrote the CBT exam were compelled to choose the option because the PPT centres were filled up. However, even for those who were not computer literate, taking the CBT exam was no problem.

    “It is not difficult. If you can use a phone, you can do the CBT,” one candidate said.

    The examination started on schedule at the two centres in the University of Lagos – the electronic Testing Company, eTC, centre, and the CITS, the university’s ICT centre. Biometric verification gave no problems in the centres.

    However, there were some candidates who registered for the Dual Based Test (DBT) option that were sent away because they ought to have written their exam on April 27 with the Paper and Pencil Test (PPT) candidates. Many claimed that they heard the exam was postponed.

    An official at the eTC centre alleged that those who came had done the DBT, found that they failed, and then tried to play smart by coming back, claiming that they heard the date was postponed.

    “They came here but we called JAMB and they said DBT had already been written so we sent them away. They were many, but I didn’t note the number,” she said.

    JAMB supervisor at CITS, Mrs Zainab Hamza, said the DBT candidates who came could not have claimed ignorance of the date of their examination because it was printed on their slips.

    “Some DBT candidates came, but we sent them back because the date is on their slips,” she said.

    At the FCE (Tech), Akoka, Lagos the JAMB Supervisor, who did not wish to be named, said a DBT candidate was allowed to do the biometric verification, but was rejected by the computer; another candidate who registered for the CBT had the number she claimed was her own.

    Meanwhile, it was chaos at the Yaba College of Technology, (YABATECH) centre as a JAMB official and a YABATECH worker almost fought in one of the centres in the polytechnic.

    Trouble started at the YABATECH digital centre, one of the venues of the exam, when candidates could not log in after power went out and was restored.

    Director of the centre, Mr IK Oyeyinka, claimed the JAMB program was not working; this angered the JAMB official.

    The official said it was not the JAMB platform but YABATECH server.

    But Oyeyinka, absolved Yabatech of any culpability, describing JAMB programme as ‘rubbish.’

    This also irked the JAMB official, who cautioned Oyeyinka to watch his tongue. But Oyeyinka was more inflamed, calling the official unprintable names this necessitated the latter to order him out of the premises.

    Oyeyinka who never knew this interviewer was a reporter fumed: “I was trying to explain to him that the Dual Based Test was done here without any problem; but the introduction of the Computer Based Test, we are having problems logging in. He refused to accept his fault and told them to throw me out. Why would he say I should be thrown out of my office? This is my digital centre,” Oyeyinka fumed.

    While the drama lasted, some candidates who had become worried started to protest that their time was being wasted as they had stayed idle in the hall for over an hour.

    However, the other centre at YABATECH was peaceful and candidates from the second centre finished their exams on time. Some candidates who had remained hitherto idle from the problematic centre were moved into the hitch-free centre at 1.45pm to commence the CBT.

     

  • JAMB releases 68,000 withheld results

    JAMB releases 68,000 withheld results

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released the results of over 68,000 candidates who wrote the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) on April 27.

    JAMB’s Lagos Zonal Coordinator, Kamaldeen Oladeji said the results, initially seized because of biometric verification-related issues, had been released.

    The JAMB co-ordinator advised the affected candidates, who had protested in Lagos, Kano and other places, to check their results on the board’s website.

    In all, 1,629,102 candidates applied to sit for the Paper Pencil Test (PPT); 15,008 candidates applied for the Dual Based Test (DBT), bringing the number of candidates to 1,644,110. The results of over 1.5 million candidates were released on May 3.

    Oladeji also said there is no going back on the newly introduced Computer Based Test (CBT).

    The zonal coordinator, who supervised the CBT of the UTME at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), spoke on Saturday in Lagos in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    A total of 100,000 candidates will take the examination at 56 centres across the country.

    The examination, which is the first of its kind to be conducted by the board, is expected to end on June 1.

    The zonal coordinator noted that if the country is to compete favourably with others, especially in technological advancement, all must support the initiative.

    According to him, the adoption of the CBT will eventually assist in enhancing ICT skills amongst the citizenry.

    Oladeji said: “This CBT examination has come to stay. Once we get it right, others will follow, because as you can see, our education system is gradually transiting to e-education. This means, we should be talking e-learning, e-teaching, e-research across all the various levels of education in our system.

    “With ICT, we can achieve a lot in no time. But the only challenge currently is that the computer penetration and infrastructural backing are still very low in our society.”

    He implored stakeholders in the private sector to improve infrastructure and internet penetration across the country.

  • JAMB gets ultimatum to release scripts for remarking

    JAMB gets ultimatum to release scripts for remarking

    An education consultant, Mr. Oludotun Shodunke, has given the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) a seven-day ultimatum to release some scripts for re-marking or face court action.

    Shodunke wants to prove that the examination body failed many candidates because the examination questions allegedly leaked.

    In an interview with The Nation, Shodunke, who led some candidates to protest the mass failure in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Maryland, Lagos, last Thursday, queried the JAMB leadership led by Prof Dibu Ojerinde in conducting the examination.

    He stressed that most of the students “were failed” by the body because of the rumour that the examination papers leaked.

    “If the examination papers leaked, the right thing is for the body to have cancelled the exercise and fixed another day for it. You cannot punish students with what I called ‘monumental failure’ because the examination papers leaked. Leakage of examinations cannot be blamed on the students,” he said.

    He also alleged that the mass failure might be a way to favour the candidates that will be writing the Computer Based Test (CBT) from Saturday.

    The founder of Pathfinder Academy, which offers tutorials for candidates preparing for external examinations, noted that as a concerned parent, he has directed his lawyer to request for some of the scripts, “because I am certain that these students did not fail. Since I started this campaign many students have volunteered to have their scripts remarked by an external person and that is what we are asking for. We have asked Prof Ojerinde to release five of such scripts. We don’t want to ask for 50,000 scripts but just five so that Nigerians will understand what we are saying that the students did not fail but were failed.”

    He said his lawyer will not hesitate to approach the court if the body refuses to release the demanded scripts within seven days.

    He warned that the mass failure recorded can escalate the insecurity the country is experiencing, “because these are youths and are easy prey when they are idle”. He pleaded with the leadership of the country to persuade Ojerinde to have a rethink and remark the scripts.

    It will be recalled that the Board withheld the results of 80,419 candidates for culpability in examination malpractices. Ten candidates scored 300 and above; 628 scored between 270 and 299; 33,115 scored between 250 and 269; while 704,622 scored between 200 and 249.

    About 571,298 scored between 170 and 199; 103,489 scored between 160 and 169; while 127,017 scored less than 159.

    A total of 1,629,102 candidates applied to sit for the Paper Pencil Test (PPT), while 15,008 candidates applied for the Dual Based Test, bringing the number of candidates to 1,644,110.

    But JAMB Public Relations Officer, Mr Fabian Benjamin, debunked the claims of leakages or mass failure.

    He said: “Before we write our exams, our keys (answers) are already on ground. Don’t forget we started marking that very day. Examination towns that are close to Abuja, Kaduna are marked that very day. Our marking is computer based marking. And our questions did not leak. Anybody telling you that the question leaked is just speaking from his imaginations.

    “Our exam is not a fail/pass examination. It is an entrance examination. Our minimum pass mark for last year was 180 for universities and 160 and above for polytechnics and colleges of education. The pass mark is determined at a policy meeting chaired by the Minister of Education. The meeting is yet to hold for this year.”

     

  • ‘JAMB not ready for e-testing’

    ‘JAMB not ready for e-testing’

    The electronic testing (e-Testing) by the Joint Matriculation Examination Board (JAMB) for the 2013 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE) drew criticism due to the woeful performance recorded by candidates in the last examination.

    The House of Representatives has summoned JAMB Registrar Prof. Dibu Ojerinde to explain the circumstances behind the mass failure.

    Ojerinde said In June 2012 that “the board shall be commencing e-testing in the 2013 UTME for candidates because this is what is obtained everywhere in the world”.

    A member of the House Committee on Eduction, Kehinde Adeneye (ACN, Ogun) said though e-testing was a welcome development but that the challenges are too enormous for JAMB to accomplish at this period because of the fundamental issues associated with the scheme.

    According to the lawmaker, the level of computer literacy and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the country would not allow full achievement of the objectives.

  • This JAMB

    This JAMB

    •The board has repeatedly failed to live up to expectations; let varsities conduct their exams

    The release of the 2013 results of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has once again provided cause for much soul-searching by parents, candidates and JAMB itself.

    In spite of the efforts of the board’s officials to gloss over the challenges of this year’s UTME, there can be no doubt that there were simply too many problems for candidates to contend with. The registration process was fraught with difficulty, as many candidates complained of the inability to easily submit their forms online. Examination centres for many candidates were found to be in areas that were relatively distant from their own homes, and led to a lot of inconvenience.

    The UTME examination itself was characterised by delays, last-minute changes and other break-downs in established procedure. Many candidates arrived at designated venues only to find that they had been relocated to other venues without their knowledge. The biometric verification formalities were often inefficient or not working at all, causing delays and frustration. The resultant confusion provided ample opportunity for examination malpractice.

    Given such poor omens, it is perhaps not surprising that the UTME results were not particularly encouraging. Only 10 out of about 1.64 million candidates were able to score more than 300 marks in the examination; 628 candidates scored between 270 and 299 marks. About 50 per cent of those who sat the examination scored less than 200 marks. Some might attribute this poor performance to the falling standard of education in the country; it might well be; but JAMB is not helping matters with its incompetence.

    Meanwhile about 12,000 results were withheld, while another 68,000 are still being scrutinised. This has led to protests by some candidates in Kano State who are demanding the immediate release of their results. Even the results are in question: some candidates are claiming to have received scores in subjects that they did not register for; others say they have multiple results for the same subjects.

    For an organisation which has been in the business of conducting matriculation examinations since 1978, this cannot be good news. Despite modern improvements in technology, logistics and administrative practices, candidates find it more difficult to register, less easy to locate their centres, experienced increased delays during examinations, and display greater uncertainty about the validity of their performance. Added to this is the still-unsolved problem of inadequate places for those seeking university admission: only about 520,000 spaces are available for the 1.6 million hopefuls who sat for the UTME.

    JAMB has failed to live up to its central mission of acting as an efficient clearing-house designed to facilitate the university admissions process. The anomalies it was set up to prevent have been replaced by even greater disjunctions which continue to undermine it at every turn. The board appears to be losing credibility almost on an annual basis, as parents and candidates become increasingly frustrated with an organisation which seems to be bent on making an-already difficult situation even worse.

    It is time for a new paradigm. Individual universities must be permitted to conduct their own entrance examinations and send the results to JAMB, whose clearing-house function would now be restricted to that of ensuring equity, geographical spread and inclusivity in admissions.

    The advantages are self-evident. Candidates will no longer have to endure sleepless nights in front of computers in their efforts to register; any university that makes the registration or examination process unduly difficult will be dropped in favour of those that do not. The double jeopardy of sitting for UTME and post-UTME will be eliminated. Universities will be under greater pressure to ensure that they are good enough to attract the best students. In essence, the decentralisation of tertiary matriculations examinations is almost certain to make it more efficient and more equitable.

  • Reps summon JAMB boss over mass failure

    The Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Examination (JAMB), Prof. Dibu Ojerinde is to face the House of Representatives  over student’s mass failure in the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
    Chairman, House Committee on Education, Aminu Suleiman (PDP, Kano) said the invitation was as result of barrage of complaints that flooded the Committee from across the country.
    He said: “We heard that JAMB authorities had formally explained some reasons for the mass failure, this is not enough if the content of the complaints of Nigerians is anything to go by.
    “One of the complaints was that concerning the usage of computer for the exam that most of them have never had contact with computer before or that they only learnt the theory without the practical usage of computers.
    “It can be recalled that the House passed a resolution asking JAMB not to use computer for the 2013 exams and they said they would make nit optional; but there were still complaints by Nigerians that some students filled the manual or paper option only to find themselves being asked to write the exams using computers”.
    Saying that the mass failure could be as a result of the introduction of computers for the examinations, the Chairman noted that most students, especially those in the rural areas are not computer-literate enough .
    “The committee have no option that to act accordingly to work towards finding lasting solutions to the perennial failures of Nigerian students,” he said.
  • UTME Candidates protest seizure of JAMB scores

    UTME Candidates protest seizure of JAMB scores

    About 1, 000 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidates who wrote this year’s Joint Admissions And Matriculation
    Board (JAMB) examinations in centres across Edo state on Tuesday asked the JAMB to release their results.

    The candidates who marched through the major streets of Benin City, and the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists; (NUJ), Benin
    City said the centres where they wrote the UTME  had no biometric machines so seizing results on account of their not being captured by
    the machines was an attempt to deny them admissions.

    The angry candidates who carried different placards with inscriptions which read, “Out of 1.7million candidates: where are the spaces in the
    Universities”, JAMB do not frustrate us”, “JAMB release our results”, amongst others said they have other plans if JAMB does not take heed.

    Anthony Ozabor who was a UTME candidate in St Maria Goretti College in Benin City where he said JAMB had two centres said that they have been
    checking their results online only to find that they have none, arguing that the excuse by JAMB is that the machines showed that they were absent.

    “How can hundreds of thousands of candidates be absent for such a widely publicized examination that they have been preparing for since
    last year. The problem is that JAMB did not send the machines and they did that to ensure that they collected money from as candidates as
    possible only to deny them results after”.

    He added, “Today we have been to the Benin JAMB office and they used the Nigerian Police to drive us away; they  said we should go to headquarters of JAMB in Abuja”.

    However, an official at the Benin JAMB office denied knowledge of the candidates protest adding that results for those who actually wrote
    the UTME were available online for those interested to cross-check and take action.

  • Stay away from fraudsters – JAMB

    Stay away from fraudsters – JAMB

    The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has advised students and parents to avoid fraudsters pledging to help in “upgrading” UTME scores.

    This information was passed by the body through its facebook page, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The statement reads:

    Information reaching JAMB shows Internet fraudsters are already telling candidates that their results could be upgraded in one form or the other. This is pure deceit, the public and candidates are hereby advised to disregard these fraudsters since they do not have access to our data.

    Let me once again state that candidates are allowed to change their choices of institutions and courses once only, this change has to be effected within two weeks.

  • Mix reactions trail 2013 UMTE results

    Some people on Friday reacted to the release of result of the 2013 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) on Friday.

    The Director, Quality Assurance, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Chiedu Mafiana, described the percentage pass in the examination as slightly improving, going by the over 1.6 million candidates who sat for the examination.

    Mafiana spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone on Friday shortly after the release of the results.

    He attributed the large number of candidates found to have engaged in examination malpractices to the lack of preparedness among the students.

    ”I know I had said it before that the large number of candidates that usually enrol for this examination each year are not qualified because what JAMB comes up with during its examination is usually a different ball game from just going to school and copying notes.

    ”Having said this, it is only wise that we get our students well prepared and very qualified before attempting the examination in order to save the country from this malpractice mess.

    ”If we fail to plan for examinations of this nature, then the outcome is obviously what has been released by JAMB today.

    ”In the case of finding 12,110 candidates culpable to various examination malpractices, I feel JAMB had done a good job because compared to various examinations before now, it has reduced, which means JAMB has tightened its noose and I feel they have done a good job,” Mafiana said.

    On his part, Mr Femi Omokungbe, Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Yaba College of Technology chapter, insisted that candidates must have self examination before attempting public examinations as a way of preparing themselves mentally.

    Omokungbe said that majority of the candidates were not keen about going through the right path in achieving success, but would rather want to cut corners to reach the top.

    ”It is regrettable that we still have such huge number of candidates getting involved in examination malpractices despite all the consequences that surrounds it.

    ”This goes to show the kind of youths we are preparing to be our leaders of tomorrow and we pray that God in heaven should guide us aright and show us the way forward.

    ”If we have to compare the number of candidates that made scores of 300 marks and above when compared to the figure that sat for the examination, you will truly discover that we have a long way to go,” he said.

    The ASUP boss emphasised the need for government to be more proactive in enforcing disciplinary actions on candidates found culpable in public examinations to serve as deterrent to others.

    He said there would not be any transformation in the country if government failed to tackle the high rate of corruption which had permeated all strata of the society.

    Abdul-Gaffar Oyeweso, a professor of History in sun State University, said a lot needed to be done at the basic education level in order to correct the anomalies associated with conduct of examinations.

    NAN recalls JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, at a news conference where he announced the release of the results, said 12,110 results  were withheld because the candidates were found culpable of various forms of examination malpractices.

    Ojerinde said that the results were withheld for possible disciplinary action.

    He added that the results of 68,309 candidates from various centres were currently undergoing further screening to ascertain the culpability of the 12,110 candidates’ results.

    Ojerinde said that 10 candidates scored 300 marks and above, while 127,017 candidates scored between one and 159 marks.

    He also said that about 40,692 candidates’ results were invalid due to either multiple shading or no shading at all, adding that after processing all the results, the board also discovered that about 47,974 candidates were absent.

    It would be recalled that a total of 1,629,102 candidates applied to write the Paper Pencil Test (PPT), while 15,008 candidates applied for the Dual Based Test, bringing the number of candidates to 1,644,110.

    Meanwhile the Computer Based Test (CBT) mode of the examination has been scheduled to take place from May 18 to June 1

  • Is the trouble with JAMB or us?

    Last Saturday, I covered the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for the seventh time. Save for the 2012 edition and one other year, I have not missed visiting the Dairy Farm School complex to monitor the examination in the past nine years. The two schools within the complex, Dairy Farm Senior Secondary School, and Sanngo Senior Secondary School always serve as centres yearly – for the Universities Matriculation Examination (UME) and the Monotechnics/Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Matriculation Examination (MPCEME) which have now been combined as the UTME.

    I remember the first UME I covered in the complex in 2005. I spent most of the time at Sanngo because it was the centre of the action. What I witnessed that day could have made a good movie script. Security was so porous that almost anybody had access to the candidates. Mercenaries had little difficulties distributing answers from class to class (the centre supervisor shouted himself hoarse trying to stop them). Invigilators also provided as many candidates as paid with answers. Many candidates waited in vain for one particular point man to come to the centre with expo. His alias was Passman. They had paid a lot of money to him but he disappointed them. He came after the examination had ended (He must have had so many centres to cover). Then, mobile phones were not so cheap that students could afford them so that was why they needed him to physically bring the answers to their centres. I felt sad seeing many candidates, his clients, surround him, bemoaning their fate because of his absence. I wondered how able-bodied and healthy young people with their heads intact could allow such nonentity to hold their destinies in his hands – and all because they were unwilling to work hard. It was a shameful experience – examination malpractice at its worst.

    In the past four or five years however, things have changed generally in the conduct of the UTME. JAMB has done a lot to improve the examination including beefing up security at centres, introducing biometric screening to eliminate impersonation, and banning the use of mobile phones in the examination halls among others.

    Unfortunately, while these measures have worked, they will not help to totally eradicate or reduce examination malpractice to the barest minimum. This is because the biggest threats against them are human beings, officials, candidates, that are meant to make them work. If an official fails to report candidates caught with microchips (prepared answers) or cell phones but turns the other way because he has received a bribe, then malpractice will continue. If candidates refuse to study knowing they can get ready-made answers on the d-day, then we are still far from winning the war against examination fraud. If teachers continue to encourage candidates to cheat by arranging centres for them, solving questions and sending via SMS or abusing their office as invigilators and teaching them in the examination hall, then the malpractice forms will never be filled.

    Perhaps in addition to investing in security and new technologies to beat malpractices, JAMB should invest in re-orientating the candidates that will write the examination, and the officials that will manage them. But is this a task for JAMB alone? Certainly not.